This I Believe

Too many times I have faced this destructive fear that wishes to rip every part of me apart with its deception. This fear wishes to crawl to the deepest part of my soul and let out its deep roots to ruin my life from within. Fear of failure is a big issue that I have battled with for years. Or, maybe I should just be honest and admit that at many times I haven’t battled with it, but have allowed it to win.

It starts with doubt, maybe doubting that a task or assignment can be accomplished with the little strength you have. If these thoughts of doubt are pondered upon, they will grow until it reaches another level. This level is called fear. No longer do these people hold mere thoughts, which are easy to get rid of; but they begin to have fear. With each minute that this fear is given room, it begins to double in size and soon controls everything. Fear is the wall that stops a person from getting anywhere. This isn’t a God given fear that is set there for our protection. This fear comes to destroy our future as the victim. Of course, the victim is not fully innocent. The victim chooses to have room for the fear by committing to the thoughts.

This fear brings no abundance to life. Fear of failure in school brings destruction in one’s future career and college life. The student is no longer focused on success, but on “not failing.” Instead of having an open mentality of what “can” be accomplished if the student tries assigned tasks in school, the focus shifts to what can go wrong after trying. Therefore, the true potential of a fear possessing student can never be seen, until the fear is removed. Over the years, Psychologists have stated that the amount of energy taken to ponder on the difficulty of the task ahead is the same or even greater than simply doing what is to be done. Nike’s motto states “Just do it.” If the student takes the action of “doing” before even “thinking” much can be accomplished.

Watching many of my classmates sitting back throughout the years and giving up on school has influenced me this year. As the work load got heavier, I began to compromise what I could truly accomplish in school. With this fear of failure, I fell behind in school and forgot that God in me is the hope of reaching the places I dream to reach and that it’s not by my own strength. Though it is now the end of my junior year, I am still blessed to have realized this fact before my last year of high school. Next year (and even starting now) I will not allow fear of failure to have any part in my life. I will try hard, take the step forward, and follow through with whatever needs to be done. I will prove that I can do all things through God’s strength. I will not fear any failure, but to me failure is not trying. Even when I fall, I will get up and remind myself that I am not a failure for falling. I am only a failure if I fear what is achievabl

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.